In this post, I will be talking about two people; one, a man who I take a lot of inspiration from, "Yes" keyboard player Rick Wakeman, and legendary jazz pianist and composer, Bill Evans.
I have been tasked with comparing my own website with Rick Wakeman's. I find this to be a trivial task. For example; Rick Wakeman is important enough to have someone design and write his own website for him. I am not. Rick Wakeman's website is filled with details of his 60+ years of life (every year is accounted for individually in his biography), and is always up to date with his constant solo shows. I have been in the music 'industry' for less than two years. I don't gig enough or do regular work to warrant a huge biography. Though I DID take some inspiration from his website.
For example, instead of having two blogs (one here and one on the 'news' page of my site, it's hardly ever used) I will list any upcoming performances I have coming up. Since I am not Rick Wakeman, I only have one listed at the moment. He has about 30.
Rick's Website is rather ugly, and some of the content isn't typed as professionally as you'd think - if he writes things, he does so very informally. He isn't a teacher. If he was advertising teaching, he'd have to keep the entire website very formal. That is what I do (bar the occasional post on the 'News' section of my Website).
As stated in a previous post, there are not a lot of photos available online of me playing. The ones I have, though, I have tried to put on the website. As time goes on and my skills improve enough for me to start performing regularly, more photos, news posts and videos will be uploaded. But just now, there is not enough content available online for me to use effectively on a website.
A link to Wakeman's site can be found here;
http://www.rwcc.com/index.asp
A Musician Who's Career Was Affected by Drugs
Bill Evans, on the other hand, doesn't have a website. He's dead. And if he wasn't, he'd probably be too old to be able to work one himself. The cause of Evans' death is the subject of this half of this post - drug use.
Evans, like many musicians of our time, had a vice. His was heroin.
Evans was addicted to heroin for most of his adult life. This not only impacted upon his health, but on his career. Yes, his career was fantastic. But his heroin addiction led to terrible living conditions, two failed marriages (one of which tragically resulted in the suicide of his wife) and eventually, his death. But it also affected his music, in more ways than one.
For example, his failed marriages. They would obviously upset him. So he wrote songs about them. Popular songs, like 'How my Heart Sings'. The emotion felt would be the drive for his soloing; the thing that made him who he was.
The heroin made his solos...fly. Kurt Cobain was the same (perhaps Kurt took inspiration). When Kurt was on drugs, the audience could tell because of his playing. Well this was the same case with Evans.
If Evans ever played live on drugs, his solos would be different. He would be in another world. This had its good and bad points; his playing would either be otherworldly good if he was high, or down right terrible. This affected playing got him work, and lost him work.
It lost him a large part of work. Although Evans played a lot with Miles Davis, one of jazz's greatest and most renowned names, his drug use got him left out of albums that could have made him even more successful. While it's true that Evans was Davis' 'favourite pianist', and that he played on the critically acclaimed 'Kind of Blue', Davis went through a phase where he wanted everyone in his band to be 'clean' - without drugs. Evans was addicted during this phase. While he did temporarily kick his drug habit and work with Davis again, Evans was removed from Davis' band when he recorded at least two albums. At least two albums worth of money and work was lost because of Evans' drug habit.
And of course, Evans died early. He could have went on to become even bigger than he was; a name known to everyone, even those who have no interest in music at all. But he died due to heroin related health problems. His life, his career, was cut short. He became a legend much earlier than he should have been.
Many artists get themselves riddled with drugs due to the stress of their work. Sometimes they're just offered it and don't stop (it could be seen as an 'industry standard' for famous artists to become addicted to something). It affects their career, their lives and their families. Bill Evans life is a textbook case of this.
Wakeman, on the other hand, I have no doubt that after watching videos of him live, that he is on SOMETHING a lot of the time he played with 'Yes'. But he didn't let it affect him as much as Evans did. Evans said he had 'confidence issues'. The heroin probably helped him get past these issues, to make him as successful as he was. If this is true, Evans was a victim of his own success.
May he rest in peace.
Resources;
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=14599
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bill-evans-p6477
Wilson, John S. "Bill Evans, Jazz Pianist Praised For Lyricism and Structure, Dies; 'In Touch With His Feelings' Trouble With Scales" September 17, 1980
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=28148
Handouts given in 'Writing about Music' class.
